MOVIE REVIEW: 'Norman' a career best for actor Richard Gere

Friday

Apr 28, 2017 at 7:00 AM

Richard Gere uses his considerable charm to sell a character that would be pathetic if he weren't so endearing in Israeli writer-director Joseph Cedar's film about how human connection has devolved from love thy neighbor to a what-can-you-do-for-ME transaction.

By Al Alexander/For The Patriot Ledger

Watching Richard Gere’s fabulously inventive “Norman,” one can’t help but think of Donald Trump’s hordes of sycophants scurrying to gain his favor, all assuming they’re using him, but when in fact it’s the other way around. Think former Trump aides Carter Page, Paul Manafort and Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn all – despite their undying loyalty – thrown under the bus when it became advantageous to the man whose coattails they thought they were riding.

Sweet, genial Norman Oppenheimer (Gere in a career-best turn) knows exactly how they feel. He thought he was using the Israeli prime minister as a ticket to access and respectability – with “thought” being the operative word. But that’s not the only person Norman naively counts as a “friend.” There’s his opportunistic nephew, Philip (Michael Sheen); his financially strapped rabbi (Steve Buscemi) and a Trump-like billionaire (Harris Yulin) looking to make a huge financial score with a heavy bet on a lucrative Middle East oil deal.

They don’t so much like Norman; they tolerate him – barely. In fact, they see the well-dressed, gray-haired hustler as a nagging pest; always loitering outside their door, looking to grab an ear with his latest money scheme. To them, he’s a walking cold virus – until – the day he stumbles upon his meal ticket in front of a ritzy Manhattan haberdasher. His name is Micha (Lior Ashkenazi), a deputy to the deputy of the Israeli prime minister. Norman invites him inside the store, and after an hour of regaling Micha with B.S. – particularly an imagined friendship with a wealthy investor (Josh Charles) – he buys the Israeli a pair of $1,200 shoes, and in turn a connection to Manhattan’s high and mighty.

What ensues is a variation on the old saw about being careful of what you wish for. But Israeli writer-director Joseph Cedar (a New York native making his first American film) gives it a markedly fresh spin by crafting a sneakily moving story about how friendship – heck, all human connection – has devolved from love thy neighbor to a what-can-you-do-for-ME transaction. It’s a place where affection, loyalty and mutual respect no longer exist. And it’s sad; particularly when Norman comes face-to-face – literally – with the reality of his anonymous existence. You feel it deep – all due to Gere.

Gone are the days when he got by on his Greek-god looks. He’s evolved into a real actor of range and complexity. But what remains is the irresistible Gere charm. He uses it like a painter uses his palette, with nuance and exacting strokes. And it adds exponentially in selling a character that would be pathetic if he weren’t so endearing – in a creepy stalker sort of way. Norman is a man utterly lacking in self-awareness. And like the 45th president, he’s prone to fabricate – really well. He claims to have a daughter and a deceased wife, although we never see proof. Nor do we see where he lives; raising the speculation that he’s a nattily dressed vagrant.

And, in a sense, he IS a vagrant – from his own life. It’s a haunting point that Cedar makes with poignancy and pitch-black humor. It’s also a warning of how many other Normans lurk around the edges of power, either playing the fall guy or the overly eager surrogate of criminality. They are the people who make it possible for corporate and political corruption to thrive. Even Buscemi’s rabbi isn’t above a genteel form of extortion. Who can you trust? Cedar asks. And the answer is no one.

What you can count on are a host of strong performances by a crack ensemble led by Buscemi and Charlotte Gainsbourg as an Israeli consulate official (think James Comey) compiling enough dirt on the prime minister to bring down her nation’s government. But next to Gere, it’s Ashkenazi (a Cedar regular) who best taps your emotions as a politician who deceives himself into believing he has a conscience. His scenes with Gere – either together, on the phone or in Cedar’s clever use of split screens – are consistently the film’s best. Yet it’s Gere that remains stuck in your mind. And nothing sums up Norman’s overly exuberant glad handing then when his nephew compares him to “a drowning man trying to wave at a passing ocean liner.” To which, Norman replies, “Yeah, but I’m a good swimmer.” Likewise, Cedar is a good filmmaker. His last movie, “Footnote,” earned him an Oscar nod for Best Foreign Language film. Like “Footnote” (which also starred Ashkenazi), “Norman” again deals with an aging man convinced his life deserves more than a simple notation. But in trying to prove it, he only destroys himself. Somewhere in there resides a lesson for all of us. NORMAN (R for language.) Cast includes Richard Gere, Lior Ashkenazi, Michael Sheen, Steve Buscemi, Josh Charles and Hank Azaria. Grade: B+